Thursday, July 28, 2005

Goodness is its own reward

Doing good with the greed of a reward is probably very much like doing evil. Goodness is its own reward. I had this argument with a few faculty members from some so-called universities in Karachi, back in 2003. We were talking about the community activities that I have been involved in for quite some time, and the formidable donations that I had brought to my department at NED University through my networking and efforts. The "faculty" immediately asked me if the university recognizes my efforts. I said, "no, and I dont care." They said, "no, you should care and you should be acknowledged."
I told them and I tell you, I do what is right because that is the thing to do. If you're doing right, that's nothing extraordinary. If you're doing wrong, that should be denounced. It's like if someone returns someone else's lost wallet, the whole thing gets published in the newspapers. Give me a break, he did what he was supposed to do, he did what he should've done. Do you get a reward for working 9 am to 5 pm? No. You get a reward if you work beyond your job description. Well, quite frankly, I've been working beyond the call of duty, but that's because it brings me satisfaction. I dont care about the fact that I earned four to five times less than what my class fellows did.
By our society's standards, I am a nut case. A student of mine, an year or so back, when he noticed how and what I've been doing admitted exactly that. He said, "Sir, you're a nut case." I said, "damned right I am a nut case. And we need as many such nut cases as we can get." If you find any, get me in touch with them.

No comments: